Physical Sky

Add Light: Physical Sky

Setup a simple Physical sky using Arnold. In the Main Menu select Arnold > Lights > Physical Sky.

The background turns black. Maya creates a large sphere that surrounds you scene.

You can either render it with the Arnold renderer or use the live renderer. Render Window - Arnold > Render

Select the Physical Sky

Change the Elevation to elongate the shadow of the snowman. Change the Azimuth to change the position of the sun in the sky.

You would use Azimuth and Elevation in 3D environments like Maya with Arnold's Physical Sky when you want to accurately position the Sun in the sky to simulate realistic lighting and shadows based on time, location, and atmosphere.

You can control the Sun's position via the Sun Direction (a directional light).

Or, use the Physical Sky attributes:

- 1. Elevation vertical angle of the sun above the horizon. Measured from 0° (horizon) to 90° (directly overhead)
  2. Azimuth horizontal angle, Measured clockwise from true north (0° to 360°).